


A Love Story Through Hand Gestures

by wisrac17dew



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Sign Language, don't take it too seriously please, super unrealistic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-02
Updated: 2014-04-02
Packaged: 2018-01-17 22:41:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1405183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisrac17dew/pseuds/wisrac17dew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matthew Brown is sent to jail for attempting to kill Hannibal Lecter. His cell happens to be located across from Will Graham's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Love Story Through Hand Gestures

Will Graham was in no way not interesting. Everything about Will was interesting, the way he looked, the way he talked, the way his mind worked, the way he walked, everything. Compared to the rest of the inhabitants of the Baltimore State Hospital For the Criminally Insane, which there weren’t many of, Will was a unicorn, and they were all just plain old horses.

It was surreal that Matthew got paid to give him food, and escort him in and out of his cell. He even got to put on his straightjacket and wheel him around when it was on.

It took a while for him to figure out how to express his affections for Will Graham, he wanted to do something over the top, something that would be sure to make a good impression of himself.

When the idea of killing someone in the Chesapeake Ripper’s style came along, Matthew knew that was how he was going to do it. It took quite a bit of work, but impressing Will was at the top of his list of priorities.

When he finally had the chance to talk to Will, he wasn’t sure what to expect. He knew an awful lot about Will, but all of his knowledge of the other man came from a file folder. Hopefully Will would react kindly to his gesture.

He was surprised when Will wanted him to kill Hannibal Lecter. He knew that Will despised the doctor, and that he blamed him for the Chesapeake Ripper’s killings, but he hadn’t expected him to want the man dead. Matthew was happy to fulfill the request though, he wasn’t worried about being caught, his mind was too dead set on pleasing Will.

 

Now, Matthew stands in jail, wearing a coverall that matches Will’s, waiting to be escorted to his new jail cell. A man that he had worked with not long ago grabs him by the arm and leads him down a familiar hall.  He’s almost afraid to sneak a glance in Will’s direction, but he looks anyway. Will stares back at him, but he doesn’t look angry, that’s a relief.

His escort unlocks the door to a cell that is diagonal from Will’s. When he steps inside he finds that he can just barely see the corner of Will’s cell, and that is, in an odd way, comforting. The escort unlocks, and takes off his handcuffs, and Matthew immediately rolls his wrists around a few times.  The escort locks the door, and walks away without a word. Matthew wonders if anyone would care if he called across the hall to Will. He wants to say sorry, he let Will down, he wasn’t able to kill Doctor Lecter.

He’s not stupid though. He knows that yelling across the hall isn’t going to do him any good, he doesn’t want to get in trouble with Chilton. He’d find some way to communicate with Will eventually, he was a patient enough man.

 

Will knows sign language. Fucking _sign language_. How perfect can one person be? Matthew learns this one particularly rough day after being visited by yet another psychiatrist. He is standing in his cell watching his escort, who he now calls Paul, walk away down the hall. Out of the corner of his eye he catches Will standing way in the corner of his cell, making some sort of crazy gestures with his hands. Matthew just narrows his eyes and shrugs in response, he has no clue what Will is trying to tell him. Will smiles and disappears from sight.

 

Two days later Matthew finds a piece of paper in his pocket. It has been folded at least ten times. A few crudely drawn pictures of hands are sprawled across it, and underneath some words. It doesn’t take long for him to realize that it’s instructions on how to say his name in sign language. Matthew smiles, he doesn’t know how Will managed to get the paper in his pocket, but he doesn’t even mind, the gesture is enough to brighten up his whole day.

 

Matthew continues to receive notes in his pocket, and before long he can piece together a sentence using his hands. Not a very articulate sentence, but a sentence nonetheless. He wishes he could figure out how Will was getting the messages to him in the first place.

Time passes, and Matthew and Will begin to communicate from across the hall. Matthew picks up some new signs from watching Will, and living in prison begins to become more enjoyable. Watching Will smile because of something he signed (or something he tried to sign) was enough to make talking to Chilton bearable. Matthew now feels comfortable in his sign language skills, although they still have much to be desired.

Will and Matthew talk about lots of things, Matthew tells Will about his childhood, and Will tells Matthew about his dogs. For some unknown reason Chilton doesn’t seem to notice their conversations, maybe he just figures psychopaths like making hand gestures, or maybe he just likes deciphering their conversations, either way Matthew is glad he hasn’t intervened.

 

“I want you and Will Graham to have a conversation,” Chilton says. Matthew furrows his brow, and blinks.

“Me? Talk to Will Graham?”

“Yes, you,” Chilton rolls his eyes.

“When?”

“Tomorrow,” Chilton watches for Matthew’s reaction.

“Alright,” he says slowly, the thought that he’ll finally be able to hear Will’s voice after all this time sinks into his mind, “as long as I get to shower first.”

The rest of the night Matthew is excited beyond belief. He makes sure to let Will know this too, through very rushed hand gestures, and an exaggerated smile.

 

The next day Matthew almosts bursts from anticipation. He shovels down his so-called breakfast, and waits impatiently for Paul to come take him to the visitor room. Will is already locked up in one of the cages, he’s watching Matthew being led inside the room. Paul pushes him into the cage next to Will’s, locks the door, and steps back. He ends up in the corner of the room, next to Will’s orderly.

Matthew turns to face Will, now that he’s here he’s not sure what to say. “It’s nice to see you here,” Will says.

“It’s nice to see you, too,” Matthew’s reply is breathy.

“The last time I saw you while I was in a cage, you were on the outside,” Will comments, “look at us now.”

“It’s not the ideal situation,” Matthew agrees. “I’d rather be talking to you over a candlelit dinner.”

Will’s face lights up at that, “I’d like that too,” he says, “maybe we could convince them to take us out in our straightjackets.”

“Wouldn’t that be a sight,” Matthew laughs.

They both fall silent for a moment, Matthew takes the time to properly look over Will. There are dark circles under his eyes from a constant lack of sleep, and his hair looks like it could use some higher grade conditioner. Not that Matthew looks any better.

“They have me on laundry duty,” Will says, “they wanted me to be more useful apparently.” It immediately clicks in Matthew’s mind. That’s how he’s been getting the notes in his pocket. Who knows where he found paper though.

“At least they let you do something,” Matthew hopes Chilton is listening, maybe he’ll be aloud to do some sort of chores too, he has been on his best behavior lately.

“Do you think Chilton’s expecting us to be plotting murder?” Will asks. Matthew is amazed by how Will still has the ability to take things so lightly even after all he’s been through.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Matthew confesses. “It’s some sort of social experiment I suppose.”

They talk for a few minutes longer before their orderlies return to take them back to their cells. “I enjoyed talking to you,” Matthew says before they’re separated. He hopes that this won’t be the last time they are allowed to communicate, talking in hand gestures just isn’t the same.   

 

Weeks and weeks have passed since Matthew was put in jail, he’s lost count. His sessions talking to Will have increased since the first. Chilton must be enjoying listening in on their conversations.

One day, while Matthew is talking to Will through the bars of the cage he is standing in, Will stops talking mid sentence, and makes a face like he’s confused. “Will? What is it?”

Will blinks a few times before responding, “I like you,” he says slowly.

Matthew scratches the back of his head, “well I kind of figured you didn’t hate me by now.”

“No,” Will shakes his head. “I _like_ you.” He looks conflicted. Matthew takes a step forward so that he’s as close to Will as possible.

“I like you too,” he says, it’s almost a whisper.

 

Matthew is feeling particularly gloomy one evening. The food on his tray looks less appetizing than usual. He’s not really sure why he’s in such a bad mood, but he hasn’t been able to lift it all day. He looks across the hall, hoping maybe he’ll spot Will. He’s relieved when he does. Will furrows his brow when he notices Matthew’s downcast expression. Matthew shrugs.

Will smirks before holding his hand up in a gesture that makes Matthew’s heart stop. His jaw must’ve dropped at least a foot. Matthew swallows, and shakily holds his hand up the same way, pinky and pointer finger up, ring and middle finger down, and thumb pointed outwards. The universal symbol for ‘I love you’. Matthew doesn’t know how he could ever be in a bad mood again.

And who cares if they're the oddest couple around, or that they’re both in a hospital for the criminally insane. At least they have each other.   

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that I do realize that the Baltimore State Hospital in this fic is nowhere near strict enough to be real  
> Seriously this is so unrealistic don't look at me


End file.
